The cognoscenti among you may know about the upcoming TED conference in Monterey, CA this week.

TED is a prestigious, invitation-only, $6000/person gathering on Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED - get it?), and attracts hordes of Really Cool People, such as Craig Venter, Amy Tan, Al Gore, Louise Leakey, Ravi Shankar, Phil Zimbardo, Bob Geldhof, etcetera, etcetera... About 1,100 people are expected to attend TED. This year's conference theme is "Big Questions," and speakers will be looking at core issues like who we are, where we came from and what our place is in the universe. ( WIRED)

Of course, the vast majority of you will have no chance in hell to actually be able to attend TED, and meet any of these Really Cool People.

That's why this year there's an alternative for the rest of us:

BIL! This weekend, March 1-2, Monterey, CA
(Stands for Breeding. Intelligence. Lounge.)

BIL is an open-ended gathering designed to complement TED, and begins just after the closing beach party that ends TED on Saturday. Bil, loosely organized by Princeton University student Marshall Reaves, does not charge attendees but conference goers must create their own roster of speakers -- anyone who shows up at Bil can give a presentation there. The list of scheduled speakers includes some current and past TED presenters. ( WIRED)

To quote their website:

Our event is self-organizing, emergent, and anarchic. Nobody is in charge. If you want to come just show up. If you've got an idea to spread start talking. If someone is saying something good, stop and listen.

If you're interested, sign up on their wiki, bring your own folding chair, your laptop, a cell phone and show up...